whitesunfandomcom-20200216-history
Timeline of the Interspecies Republic
The following are the events that led to the exodus from Earth and formation of the Interspecies Republic (2031 CE, common era) to the events of present day (2442 CE). 2031: Recycling programs begin to fail, global warming increasing. 2040: It's official: Earth will lose the ability to sustain 21st century society and current population within 100 years. 2045: Scientists at CERN are able to make make microscopic ruptures in the fabric of space-time, wormholes as they are called. These wormholes lead to seemingly random locations in the universe: no one can predict where these wormholes lead. 2055: The quantum nature of gravity is deduced, allowing for rapid and unprecedented advances in gravity manipulation technologies. Creation of artificial gravity and gravity screening soon follow. 2057: Space technology development vastly accelerated by new discoveries. Due to the advent of gravity technology, terraforming can take decades instead of centuries. 2060: First theories for evacuating the Earth presented. Gravity manipulation technology makes evacuation plausible idea. 2062: Terraforming technology tested on Mars with positive results. 2065: Terraforming of Venus, Mars and Earth's moon begun. Terraforming efforts will be abandoned within two years due to a lack of native resources. 2068: Failure of terraforming efforts in the Solar System hit home. Global morale sink to new lows as riots break out in many major cities. Earth's governments decide that fast action is required to keep society from falling into chaos. As rebuilding Earth’s ecosystem no longer appears to be an option, a plan for mass exodus is proposed instead. The GEA (Global Exodus Alliance) is formed from the remains of the United Nations as well as the governments of the People's Republic of China and the United States of America and is given unlimited governmental authority and complete control over Earth's meager remaining resources as member nations cede their power to the organization. The GEA moves quickly to take control of infrastructure, police and military and most of the private sector as well, all in the name of mobilization of the greatest single endeavor in human history. 2072: Collection and storage of samples of all life on Earth begun. 2080: With plans for colonization in place, global resources mobilized, and construction of arks and ark modules on-going, the GEA makes its final move to cement control over humanity: The GEA publishes the "Articles of Alliance", a super-constitution which supersedes all other legal systems on the planet. As China and the U.S. are contributing most of the resources and much of the know-how to the Exodus Project, they take joint stewardship over the new "global government". Smaller countries are given a choice – toe the line or give up any chance of having their populations join the exodus. Results are almost immediate – unilateral capitulation of 98 percent of Earth's governments. The United Earth Alliance is born. 2092: While the wormholes that were discovered led to seemingly random places, scientists have increased the size of the portal to be able to send a human through. It also appears that a large "echo" of the portals on Earth occurs on the in the outers solar system, these echos last years, instead of hours, and are large enough to send a colony ship the size of Manhattan through. Both wormholes lead to approximately the same location. 2095: Latest projections show Earth unable to support more than 5 percent of current population within three decades. UEA recommends a vast expansion of the Exodus Project and Alliance approves – remaining cities will be systematically dismantled to increase the size of the ark fleet tenfold. Pollution runs wild as ark fleet is considered the only priority. 2110: Loading of ships begun with cargo, fuel, and stored genetic samples. 2114: Boarding of the ark ships begins. Over the last five decades, Earth population has dropped to around one billion due to starvation, disease, toxic contamination and criminal activities. Reproductive rates have dropped to near zero. Most of the Earth's population now lives in squalor. Although most ark ships will not depart until completely loaded (a process that takes years), survivors welcome the safe, sterile, climate- controlled environments of the Ark ships after the horror Earth has become. A rich black market develops that sells positions in the boarding lottery, falsified medical certificates and other items needed to gain quicker access to the arks. 2115: The Alliance declares global martial law. 2117: Earth's last success: a wormhole leading to a system with a G-type star, and at least two habitable planes is discovered. Scientists estimate this wormhole to stay open for no longer than 13 years, still longer than any wormhole before it. 2118: It is realized that only one of the planets is habitable, the other is much like Mars in its current state. However, the planet this habitable has Earth-like conditions, eliminating the need for large-scale terraformation of the first planet. 2120: Loading of the ark ships is complete. Over half of a billion people are contained in a couple thousand ships ranging in size from a municipal stadium to a small city. Remaining planet-side population negligible – the death rate during the years loading took place rose to near-extinction levels. Those who remain are either too ill to make the journey or are considered "undesirable" by the UEA. 2121: The first Ark ship leaves Earth orbit. These will become the first new colonist of the planet dubbed "Terra", after the latin name for the (soon-to-be) Earth-that-Was. 2126: The final Ark ship leaves Earth's orbit and enters the wormhole. 2130: As settlers of Terra begin to form the Unified Terran Republic, the wormhole collapses. All telemetry data from Earth ceases it is assumed that remaining Earth population is well under 5 million. Most likely 0, as Earth has suffered large-scale environmental collapse. 2151: White Sun Corporation is founded. 2180: Terraformation begins on the only other suitable terrestrial planet in the Helios system, Bernadette. 2193: The all the tectonic plates that make up Terra's lithosphere are mapped. 2195: Terraformation of Bernadette complete, colonization soon follows. 2210: Last Earthborn, Oung Lai-Hu, dies at age 96. 2222: The largest city on Bernadette (as of 234 AT), Chanyi, is founded. 2243: Last member of the first generation born on Terra, Myrtle Cook, dies at age 102. 2249: A new (and more stable) mode of faster-than-light travel is discovered, it is dubbed "hyperspace". 2254: The Unified Terran Republic sends out surveyor ships mounted with hyperdrives to explore nearby systems. 2269: It is discovered while hyperdrives in their current state move an average of 72 ly/day, there are "currents" in hyperspace that allow the movement anywhere from 288 ly/day to 1464 ly/day. These currents, are dubbed "hyperlanes". Unfortunately there are no hyperlanes near Terra. 2339: First Contact War begins between the Coalition of Independent Systems and the Unified Terran Republic after a Republic surveyor ship is destroyed by an Coalition naval patrol, after the Coalition believed them to be pirates. 2343: First Contact War ends with a ceasefire between the Coalition and the Republic. During the War, the Republic discovers the existence of another major faction in the galaxy, the Galactic Federation. 2383: First contact is made with the Hefestians, they are incorporated into the Unified Terran Republic, forming the Interspecies Republic. 2442: Now.